Technical Field
Embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein relate to examining routes traveled by vehicles for damage to the routes.
Discussion of Art
Routes that are traveled by vehicles may change over time. For example, tracks on which vehicles travel may become broken, cracked, pitted, misaligned, or the like, over time. This damage can pose threats to the safety of the rail vehicles, the passengers located thereon, and nearby persons and property. For example, the risks of derailment of the rail vehicles can increase when the tracks become damaged.
Some known systems and methods that inspect the route, where the route is a set of tracks for a rail vehicle, involve emitting visible markers on the tracks and optically monitoring these markers to determine if the tracks have become misaligned. These visible markers may be created using laser light, for example. But, these systems and methods can require additional hardware in the form of a light emitting apparatus, such as a laser light source. This additional hardware increases the cost and complexity of the systems, and can require specialized rail vehicles that are not used for the conveyance of passengers or cargo. Additionally, these systems and methods typically require the rail vehicle to slowly travel over the tracks so that the visible markers can be examined.
Other known systems and methods inject electric current into the tracks and examining changes to the current to identify open circuits caused by breaks in the tracks. But, these systems and methods may require additional hardware to inject the current and to sense the current, and may be prone to false identifications of damage to the route. It may be desirable to have systems and methods that differ from those that are currently available.